


The Route and the Destination

by ria_green



Category: Geography Club - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Ending, Coming Out, F/M, Fix-It, Gen, Happy Ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-09
Updated: 2014-06-09
Packaged: 2018-02-04 01:26:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1761771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ria_green/pseuds/ria_green
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alternatively: three choices that Russell Middlebrook could have made and one path that Kevin Land picked. M/M slash.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. "i'll be there"

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: Some homophobic language.

**1**.

There was a tongue in his mouth, coconut-scented tresses in his face, and...nope. Nope, he was definitely gay.

Russell gently pushed Trish away. "I'm sorry, but I can't do this."

"I-I don't understand," she murmured. "Am I not pretty enough?" The confusion on her face was rapidly turning into hurt. "I thought that you liked me."

_Shit._

Russell wanted Trish to stop trying to make advances on him (God, he sounded like a Victorian maiden), but he didn't want to hurt her in the process.

So he hastily exclaimed, "I do!" Before Trish could take that as a suggestion to continue, Russell added, "You _are_ nice - and pretty, definitely! But I don't like girls that way. Um."

_Did I just...?  
_

Admitting his sexuality in a dimly lit alleyway with a persistent homeless man peering through the window: not exactly how Russell had envisioned the night going.

Trish sat back. "Oh. _Oh._ "

Russell ducked his head. "I haven't even told Gunnar yet; I just didn't want to lead you on any longer. So please, _please_ don't tell anyone else?"

After an agonizing moment of silence, Trish spoke. "You're a good guy, Russell Middlebrook. I won't tell anyone, not even Kimberly," she promised with a sweet curve of her lips.

Russell let out a breath he didn't even know he had been holding and slumped back in his seat.

The blonde went on, her smile turning impish, "For once, this is a valid case of 'it's not me, it's you', huh?"

Trish really _was_ pretty, but the way things were, it was a different blond entirely that he wanted to kiss.

He replied, "Definitely. Actually -"

They were suddenly interrupted by a drunken shout of the homeless man who apparently had been outside their car the _ent_ _ire time._

Russell thumped his head against the seat. "So. Creepy."

Trish giggled. "Okay, okay, you're right. Let's finish our chat in a less sketchy area."

Things didn't go the way he had expected them to go tonight, but Russell was satisfied nonetheless. He lost an unwanted admirer and gained a new friend, all in one evening.

 _Not bad, Russell_ _Middlebrook, not bad at all._

 **2**.

"Go on, put the lipstick on him."

Russell glanced at the tube in his fingers. He despised Jared and Nolan, but they were his teammates. More importantly, they were Kevin's friends. And Brian was already wearing a bra and a skirt. Would adding the finishing touches be so bad?

Then, Russell moved his gaze to the boy in question and _flinched_.

What he saw in Brian's eyes made the decision for him. It was not shame or fear but wearied, worn-down acceptance. At that moment Russell realized that going along with the bullying would make him just as bad as the bonehead jocks beside him. He capped the lipstick and tossed it away.

"Are you chickening out?"

Russell exhaled. The caged hope in Brian's eyes was agonizing to see. How could Russell have even considered - for a second, he had actually -

As he helped Brian get to his feet, he could hear him whispering "thank you" repeatedly. It only made him feel worse that he had been so close to taking a different path. From now on, Russell was going to do the right thing, no matter the consequences. Starting with this.

Looking the duo straight in the eye, he stated with quiet certainty, "You guys are bullies, and I'm not putting up with it any longer."

Nolan and Jared stood in the way of the exit. "You leave with the freak, and we'll count you as part of his league of losers!"

Was that ultimatum what Russell had been so afraid to hear just minutes ago? Now, it was clear to him what was truly important.

"I'd rather be a loser than a bully."

Pushing past Nolan and Jared, he strode out of that closet with Brian under his arm and his protection.

 **3**.

"Everybody in school thinks that I slept with her!" Russell exclaimed in frustration.

Gunnar raised an eyebrow. "And that is a bad thing...why?"

He tossed the list of baby instructions onto the ground. "Because I like somebody else, okay? A boy! So would you _please_ stop trying to get me and Trish together?"

The look of shock on Gunnar's face would have been hilarious if the situation hadn't been so tense.

Russell ran his hand through his hair roughly. "You're my best friend! I'm so tired of keeping secrets from you. I know that you like Kimberly, and you want me and Trish to double-date with you guys. But it is _never_ going to happen. I can't change who I am, and if you cared about me at all, you wouldn't be pressuring me to do this."

There was an extended silence with only the sound of his harsh breathing to fill the room.

Since Gunnar was a perpetual asshole, Russell probably should have anticipated the events that happened next.

In a falsetto: "For heaven's sake, you might have told me this a little earlier. It would have been useful to know _before_ we decided to have our dear little Eliza." Gunnar wiggled the one-eyed baby's plastic arm. The doll promptly released a loud electronic wail. And wailed. And wailed.

The two made eye contact - and promptly burst into laughter.

"Crap, I can't get it to turn off. Eliza, have mercy!"

"Eliza is demon spawn; there's no other explanation!"

Once their stomachs were sore from the guffawing and the baby had miraculously quieted, Russell and Gunnar flopped onto the comforter.

After a moment, Russell offered, "I'm sorry I didn't notice that you lost ten pounds."

The portly blond sniffed. "Yeah, you should be. I can fit into my _skinny jeans_ now, dude."

Russell waited expectantly.

"...I guess I'm sorry too. I've been a shit friend," Gunnar admitted.

Russell smiled at Gunnar, who hesitantly grinned back. "Apology accepted."

And then, because Russell was best friends with a ruiner of moments, Gunnar followed up with a, "Wait, why do all the ladies dig you? It's like giving free steak to a vegetarian!"

Russell rolled his eyes so hard he almost broke something.

"Come on." Gunnar nudged him. "You know what this means." 

"That I have to tell Trish it's not her, it's me?" Russell suggested sarcastically.

"Nah, buddy, it means there are more ladies than ever now for the G-man. Aw yeah!"

Gunnar Olsen, ladies and gentlemen.

**+1**

Kevin took one step, then another. He could barely hear the bustle of the hallway over the pounding of his heart. Finally, he reached the crowd in front of Room 327.

"Yo Kev," Jared greeted. "Look at how many secret homos been hiding out this whole time. Crazy!"

Nolan chimed in, "There's been like ten of them so far - including Brian Bund, can you believe it? I always thought he was a little faggot, but this is proof! And don't even get me started on _Middlebrook_."

A good deal of his classmates laughed, but some of them averted their eyes or even frowned at the two athletes. Good to know that not everyone there had gathered here to harass new members of the former Geography Club because...

Kevin took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Eleven. Eleven of them now."

The hallway went dead silent. Jared started chuckling, but everyone else remained wide-eyed and open-mouthed. He eventually noticed the shift in the atmosphere and asked incredulously, "Wait, seriously?"

The quarterback just gazed back patiently.

"Well then, consider yourself off the team!" Jared spat. "Ain't gonna have no gays peeping at us in the locker room."

Kevin tensed for a moment. But then, the words came to him. "You already pushed Russell out; he was the best damn runner we've had in years, and you know it. Without him, we barely won our game last Friday. Take me off the team too, and see what happens to our record." A beat. "See what happens to your football scholarship."

Nolan and Jared looked pissed but grudgingly accepting. Say what you wanted about Nolan and Jared, but they usually knew which side their bread was buttered on. 

Nolan fired off one last parting shot, "Is Middlebrook your fucking boyfriend, is that what this is?"

Kevin stopped in his tracks.

He thought of Russell. Smart, kind Russell who had looked so hurt yesterday in the gym shed. Smart, kind Russell - who deserved a boyfriend he could call a boyfriend in public.

Without turning around, he said quietly, "Yeah. He is."

Kevin Land walked into that classroom and into the light.


	2. "what took you so long?"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Russell's reaction to the +1 scenario.

Each time the door to Room 327 opened, Russell couldn't help but get his hopes up. And each time when the person entering the room didn't have blond hair and a mischievous smile, his heart cracked a little more.

After seeing Russell's eyes light up and dim for fifth time, Min murmured apologetically, "I think it's about time for us to begin the meeting."

There wasn't going to be a last minute miracle. Kevin wasn't coming. "Yeah. I just hoped - yeah. I'll start us off," Russell said, defeated.

He was gathering his notecards when the door creaked. Russell made a point to not look over like he had every other time. Not until...

"No. Fucking. Way."

"What the-"

"Seriously?"

Behind him, Gunnar was saying incredulously, "Really, Russell? You go gay, and the first guy you snag is the school quarterback? You goddamn overachiever. Thank god for all the straight dudes - and lesbians - that you're gay."

It couldn't be true. It couldn't be Kevin.

 _You won't know what could be or couldn't be until you look, _scolded a voice in his head that sounded a lot like Min.

With bated breath, Russell looked.

"Hey." Kevin's eyes were trained directly on Russell. "Sorry I'm late."

Russell immediately jumped up in his seat, knocking his knee into the underside of the desk and scattering his pamphlets to the floor in the process.

_Ow! Okay, now I'm in emotional and physical pain.  
_

"You came. But I - you - football." Russell could hear the breathlessness in his voice. He was getting flashbacks to the awkwardness of their first meeting.

_Note to self: try to sound less like the heroine of that bodice-ripper romance novel mom reads._

Luckily, Kevin didn't seem to mind. "Nolan and Jared aren't happy, but I think Troy and the rest of the team probably won't give us too hard of a time. Besides, I'm the captain and the quarterback. If they don't like it, they can go - suck it."

At this, Terese let out a sudden bark of laughter.

Kevin rubbed his neck sheepishly. He said in a low voice, "I know I messed up, and I'm really sorry for taking this long to get over myself. Can you forgive me?"

"You're right. You've been a total jerk," Russell said neutrally. He waited just long enough for Kevin's face to fall before adding,  But."

And Russell had to hide a grin at how quickly the quarterback's head jerked back up. He stepped towards the front of the room until he found himself face-to-face with Kevin.

Taking Kevin's hand in his own, Russell told him softly, "But. You can be really sweet sometimes too. And then I get right back where I started."

Before he could over-think things, he pulled Kevin into a kiss to a background accompaniment of catcalling and applause.

"Ow- _ow_! Get it girl!"

"I am liking this club already!"

"Blatant infidelity! In front of our baby Eliza, how _could_ you, Russell?"

That last one originated from Gunnar, of course. Without opening his eyes, Russell flipped a middle finger in his general direction.

Ages later, Russell realized that he did have to start the club introduction at some point and reluctantly pulled away.

Cheeks flushed, lips reddened, and still clasping hands with his boyfriend was how Russell Middlebrook initiated the first meeting of Goodkind High School's newly established Gay-Straight Alliance.

_"Welcome."_


End file.
